Storms
by Invader-Hime
Summary: During a torrential storm, an unexpected visitor arrives at thirteen year old Gwen Tennyson's doorstep. Takes place between Ben 10 and Ben 10 Alien Force. One sided KXG Teen Titans crossover in first chapter. *Complete*
1. Chapter 1

Storms

By Chibi Hime

The back alley was dingy and devoid of human life.

But that didn't mean there wasn't anything there,

Suddenly, an explosion of fire and a hail of tiny crystals.

A wild eyed Kevin 11 dove like a crazed animal at the target of his rage, a boy with a gargantuan spider where his face should be. He managed to catch hold of one of the creature's arachnid legs. Kevin snapped it easily and its owner hissed inhumanly screeched out its agony. Kevin punched the creature in the stomach with a vulpimancer fist several times. He seized its human legs and slapped his opponent into a brick wall repeatedly. He grabbed one of its slender, weak, human arms and snapped it easily in his upper left hand. When it screamed again, he punched it hard in the stomach, knocking the air out of it. He smiled with his crooked mouth when he dropped the thing and it did not get up.

Kevin pulled back and thrust his razor sharp arm down upon the dazed spider boy.

"Now I'm gonna stick you like the bug you are! I just got out of the NULL VOID after being in there for almost three years! You think I'm going to put up with your crap?!" he shouted.

There was a flash of pink and seemingly out of nowhere, a young woman threw herself between the arachnid and his hand.

"No! Stop!" her shrill voice pierced Kevin's ears.

It also pulled him out of his battle lust. There actually was a girl standing there, it wasn't a hallucination. Her arms were spread, so as to cover as much as his inhuman opponent as possible. Her blond hair was disheveled and her large blue eyes were wide with terror. Those eyes seemed to pierce right through him. They were afraid...but they weren't afraid of him. He could tell. Well, what was she afraid of then? Why shouldn't she be afraid of him? Wasn't he ugly enough? Wasn't he scary enough?

With a jerk, Kevin managed to come to a halt, the point of his arm blade pressing against her forehead.

For a few moments, neither of them moved. Kevin could hear her breathing, deep and quick. Her slim chest was heaving heavily.

A small river of crimson ran down her face, trailing from where the point had pierced her skin, but she never looked away from him or moved.

"No...please don't do it," she managed, sounding much less annoying than before.

Who the hell was she and where did she come from? What did it matter to her what he did? Not only that, but why on earth would she care for something as vile as his enemy?

"Who the hell are you?" Kevin demanded, irked twofold that she had gotten in his way and that he had cut her. While mercy and compassion weren't his strong points, he tried to keep his number of accidental injuries to a minimum, especially after he'd mutated into a hideous amalgam of randomly assorted creatures from across the galaxy. He wasn't certain why he cared at all, but he did. Not knowing made it all the more frustrating. The fact that he had hurt her, not meant to, and didn't know why he gave a damn in the first place made him snarl more harshly than normal.

The girl cringed.

"Kitten..." he heard the young man behind her manage to whisper.

The way he said her name made Kevin's blood boil. Despite being beaten within an inch of his life, the spider boy had managed to fit so much emotion into one little proper noun. He sounded concerned, fearful, and...tender? He spoke her name like a lover.

The girl, Kitten turned and looked at him for a moment. She nodded and turned to face Kevin again.

"I don't know how this started...but please...please stop," Kitten begged him.

Kevin felt his rage swell within him. The way the girl spoke...she sounded the same way. It was that disgusting blend of compassion and understanding.

"No..Kitten. Get out of here! You don't know what he is or what he can do. Go!" Fang managed to sputter.

He tried to get up, but gave an inhuman cry of pain and fell back to the ground. Kitten gave a shriek of horror and for the first time since her appearance on the scene, she looked away from Kevin for more than a few seconds. She quickly dropped to her knees and took the horrible monstrosity that was his opponent's head into her lap. Her hands gently caressed the fur on the arachnid's face. Her eyes were full of care...concern...love.

It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. That...that thing had someone who could love it! No one had ever loved Kevin, not even when he had at least looked human. There was no one who could! It had to be a lie! A facade! No one could really love such a thing. She was lying! She was lying just like the rest of them! She had to be!

_She wasn't..._

There wasn't anything artificial about any of it.

Kevin felt ill.

He suddenly lost all inkling to fight. What was the point? He'd given that bug the beating of its life. He no longer wanted to end it...not with her there.

Why?

Why did her being there make a difference?

I DON'T KNOW! Kevin's inner mind screamed so loudly, he could swear those outside his head could hear it too.

Because she gives you hope.

Someone somewhere could love you.

If that thing has someone who could love it...so could you.

You have a very specific someone in mind.

She hates you. She's always hated you.

But...but that thing has someone...someone soft and pretty...just like..NO!

His thoughts carried on without his consent...carrying themselves from innocent banter to ridiculous suggestions.

"SHUT UP!" Kevin screamed aloud.

He felt their eyes on him and he turned around.

"Stop! Stop staring at me! It isn't like you've never seen a freak before. One of you is one and the other one MAKES OUT with one! " he snarled cruelly.

Kitten scowled, her petite face souring.

"Let's go, Fangie Poo. The company here is far too low class for my liking," Kitten sniffed.

The spider boy took her in his arms and sprung into the air, leaping from window ledge to flag pole to roof in a series with ease and grace that a creature of his nature should be incapable of. Once again, Kevin was left alone with his freakish self in the darkness.

Lighting flared and thunder crashed.

Rain began to pour down, soaking the mutant.

He hated it. He felt alone and ugly. Unlovable and disgusting.

Kevin felt the need to run. To get out of there. To get far and away from anything remotely human. It hurt too much. Cities and their inhabitants...their coffee houses and happy conversations.

It was all too much to bear.

With a shriek of inhuman agony, he took off into the air, thin wings carrying his immense bulk higher and farther than they should have...than they were physically able too. In a display of colossal awkwardness, he crashed into the side of a house.

Kevin slammed into the muddy ground, wings torn ragged from the elements, the air was knocked out of his massive chest and he was certain he heard a few bones snap. It all hurt so much, he couldn't feel it. He didn't even try to move. Where was he going to go?

He just lay there in the mud, a twisted pile of nothing and everything. Rain pounded down on him in the darkness and he felt as if he could just die there. He could if he hadn't felt rain suddenly stop falling on his face...if he hadn't felt someone standing over him...and most of all, if the sudden flash of lightning hadn't illuminated a very familiar face.

Kevin was glad the thunder that followed the flare of light was deafening and that it drown out his gasp of surprise that Gwen Tennyson was standing over him with an umbrella.


	2. A Bird Through the Window

Storms Pt. 2

A Bird Through the Window

By Chibi Hime

Thirteen year old Gwen Tennyson would have weathered the storm a lot better if she hadn't been home alone. She could have managed it if her grandfather could come over and check on her.

But that wasn't possible.

Her parents were out of town on business and her grandfather had taken her cousin, Ben, to a soccer final out of town. No. She had insisted she was old enough to take care of herself for one day and one night. One night's peace was all she asked for? What did she get?

A freak hail storm with possibility of tornadoes.

She sat under the pool table in the game room, away from all the windows. She had a bottle of water, a flashlight and a radio tuned in to the emergency broadcast network.

Gwen sighed and cast a glance around the room. Rain beat down on the windows and tiny specks of ice flicked off of the sill.

Without warning, there was a colossal crash and the sound of breaking glass.

Gwen's heart stopped dead in her chest and a shiver ran up and down her spine. She held as still as possible and listened.

All she could hear was the howling wind and the pattering of raindrops. Only when she was sure

Carefully, she flicked on her flashlight and eased out from under the pool table. On spritely legs, she dashed down the hall and peered into her room. The window was broken, water was pouring in, along with tiny balls of hail. Groaning, she went to her closet and pulled out a large piece of plywood she had been saving for a shop project later in the summer. With her craft nails and a little magic, she managed to temporarily board up her window. She was about to return to her hiding place when she noticed a piece of broken glass near her foot.

The curved shard had blood on it. A few splatters of crimson

Gwen quickly looked over her own arms and quickly saw that it was not her own blood. She remembered the crash and felt a chill run up her spine. Returning to her closet, Gwen emerged with and umbrella and began to patrol the house, one room at a time. She hadn't found a soul.

She'd looked in every closed and every nook there was. The blood must have been from a bird or something, she reasoned. It had been blown through the window and then, after it had regained its composure, flown back through the broken glass. Gwen was about to go back upstairs when a flash of bright lightning illuminated the front yard and revealed something she would have never expected.

Kevin.

Kevin 11 was in her front yard. Her heart leapt to her throat in surprise.

How did he get out of the Null Void? How had he found her? Why, after all this time had he decided to hunt her down? Was it some ridiculous plot against Ben?

Gwen paused and looked again, just to make certain what she thought was in her front yard really was in her front yard. It was. But Gwen also noticed it was laying in her front yard as opposed to stampeding towards her door. Curiosity and her direct nature compelled her forward. She looked out through the window and saw the vague outline of the mutated boy on the lawn, apparently making no attempt to come crashing in to threaten or kidnap her. He didn't even look like he was trying to move. That was extremely out of character for him.

Raising an eyebrow, she eased the front door open and stepped outside. On careful feet, she inched forward, her heart beating insanely fast.

No. She was certain he definitely wasn't moving. She craned her neck up and saw that the crash she had heard must have come from his impact into the house. He had crashed into her house.

Gwen rolled her eyes. About as subtle as a bull in a china store, that Kevin 11. She didn't know where it was his rashness or stupidity that had led him to fly into her house...or perhaps even, an accident?

Could it really be an accident? Some colossal cosmic coincidence?

Gwen doubted it.

Still, there was something odd about it.

The longer she stood there watching rain and hail patter down on the mutant's mismatched hide, the more she began to wonder just what he was doing there in the first place. The longer he lay still in the yard, the easier it seemed she could see herself going outside to ask.

Thunder rumbled overhead as she carefully eased her umbrella open and slipped out the front door.

Or tried to slip out the front door.

A gust of wind caught it and flung the door open. Gwen gasped as a wave of cold water blew into her. It felt like a hundred tiny knives digging into her skin. She forced her umbrella down in front of her and continued on her way. She took several uneasy steps toward the unmoving behemoth that lay on her father's well kept grass. She was standing over him before he moved. Even then the only motions he made were ragged breathes. Kevin seemed not to care that sheets of rain were pummeling him. The creature lay there, almost oblivious to the elements around him.

She leaned forward so that her umbrella was over his head. Slowly, then, he turned his mismatched features up to look at her. His eyes, usually mad with bloodlust and obsession were strangely dull and devoid of any real emotion. Lightning flashed and Gwen saw that his features seemed to animate when he realized just who he was looking at.

Thunder crashed overhead and Gwen felt it rattle her insides. Reminded of the danger, she scowled down at him.

"Well, what do you want? Ben's not here. Neither is Grandpa. Looks like you picked a bad time to get your revenge. I mean, seriously...a rain storm with a chance of tornadoes? What were you thinking?" Gwen snapped at him, trying to sound brave enough to distract him from...well...whatever it was he was planning to do.

Kevin's eyes studied her for a moment and he opened his razor toothed mouth to deliver a retort, but he seemed to think twice about it and lay his head back down in the mud and closed his eyes.

Gwen's cheeks burned.

Now he was ignoring her?

He had just crashed into her house and now he was ignoring her?

She was about to unleash a torrent of rage against him when she took another, more studious look at the mutant before her.

What she saw made her insults die on her tongue.

His wings were torn to shreds, tattered, undoubtedly by the storm that now crackled around them. There was no chance he could fly now. One of his lower arms was bent in a twisted angle and little pieces of glass were embedded in it and his shoulders. Little crimson trails trickled down from where they pierced his skin. He was a colossal mess. Even if he wanted to, there was little to no chance that Kevin could hurt her in the shape he was in.

"What happened to you?" she asked quietly.

Before Kevin had a chance to respond, lightning flickered again and struck a tree across the street. A branched cracked audibly and fell with terribly slowness towards the ground. It crashed there ad thunder rumbled again.

Gwen shrieked at its dangerous proximity. Her eyes were suddenly mad with the insanity of it all. She reached down and grabbed Kevin's Petro Sapien hand. She pulled hard.

"Get up! We have to get inside or we'll be killed!" she shouted.

The mutant didn't move.

Gwen pulled again and again.

"COME ON! We can't stay out here! Get Up! You need to get inside."

"Why bother? Why don't you Tennysons leave me alone?" he rumbled, not looking at her.

"Because I said so! I would I explain a dead mutant in the front yard to my parents? A sick one in the house, yeah. I can explain that. Now, GET UP!" she said, tugging harder.

"Why do you care?" he muttered.

"Because I'm a decent person. Now get up and get inside before you get fried,"

"I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE," he snarled at her, taking a swipe at her with his left hand alight. The rain hissed as it came into contact with its heated surface.

Gwen glared at him. She was about to yell at him again when she wondered if all his insistence was due to the fact that he could not get up. That had to be it. He couldn't get up and would rather die...truly rather die than let her know that. It was sad, really.

"Can you walk?" she asked softly.

The mutant ignored her and looked away.

Gwen inwardly groaned. He was like a stubborn kid. Scratch that. He was a stubborn kid. It was so easy to forget he was, what, a year older than her? He didn't look a year older, in this form, he easily looked ten years older. But he wasn't ten years older.

They were almost the same.

Almost the same, but so different.

Gwen frowned. She leaned over and put a hand on the mutant's cheek. His skin was clammy and cold from the rain, but otherwise, it felt like soft leather. Her fingers ran over the gill-like ridges in his face and she felt him start.

Gwen's action caused him to shiver, completely unfamiliar with such contact. Kevin turned his mismatched eyes up to her, then immediately back down, not wanting to look into those pleading eyes an instant longer than he had to.

It hurt to much.

Living like this hurt too much.

He was tired and just wanted it to stop.

His earlier encounter had bothered him more than he could have imagined. He'd fought lots of enemies and insulted more. But somehow, for some reason, he was still shaken. His oversized body shivered and he became aware of a dull, gnawing pain in each of his bones. From the tip of his tail to his mismatched fingertips, it was there. It was steady and constant. He'd experienced the same pain three years ago. It had started like that and grown unbearable, ending only when his body had warped itself into his current form.

It was going to happen again.

The thought made him whimper slightly. He leaned into her touch slightly, trying to draw comfort from her extended palm.

He didn't want it to happen again...and he didn't want her to watch!

Gwen put her other hand back on his diamond hard right hand.

"Come on. I'll help you. It will be alright. We just can't stay here," she spoke softly, as if to a small child.

He turned his uneven gaze back to her and Gwen saw that he was terrified of something.

"Kevin, what's wrong?" she asked.

"Help me," he rasped, sounding wretchedly inhuman.

Gwen nodded.

"Okay. But we need to get into the house,"

Lightning flashed again as if to emphasize her point.

The mutant eased himself up, only to slip and fall back to the ground.

Gwen spoke softly and encouraged him again and again. She ignored the way his one lower arm hung limp at his side and the way his wings fell flat against his back. She could deal with that later, once they were inside.

Slowly, but surely, they made it to the front steps, a few feet at a time. As they were making it up the front steps, an emergency siren began to go off. Its blaring sounding horrible and ominous.

Gwen tugged the mutant's arm a little harder.

"Come on. Just a few more feet," she pleaded.

With a few more heaves, the two of them were inside and Gwen bolted the door shut. The two of them were a mess. Wet, cold and muddy. Gwen turned on a radio in the hallway as she went to get a few large beach towels from the summer closet for her and her guest. As the announcer's voice echoed eerily around the house, Gwen found herself wondering what else this storm would bring.


	3. Addictive

Storms Pt. 3

Addictive

By Invader-Hime

The more Gwen observed her guest, the more she realized how problematic he was. Kevin made no effort to move himself from his place in her living room. The mutant had dragged himself there once they had managed to get him through the door. Afterwards, he made no move to go any further. It wasn't like he could even if he wanted to. He was far too large to navigate either the stairway upstairs or the one down to the basement.

Gwen had retrieved the large beach towels from the summer closet, as well as a first aid kit from under the sink in the bathroom. After drying herself off, she had patted the monstrous thing in her living room dry. The girl had attempted to get the older boy to speak with her, but he seemed to have fallen asleep...or passed out...or he was just faking. Either way, he was unresponsive to both her verbal inquiries and her occasional jab with a finger.

Nothing.

Gwen frowned. Well, at least he wasn't destroying her house. Things could be a lot worse. He had barely scratched the doorframe upon entering. Gwen was beginning to think it really was a colossal accident that he had ended up with her at all. He had certainly looked surprised when she had appeared standing over him. At least it looked like a surprised expression. It was hard to read his bizarre face. That last thought caused Gwen to pause. She took a step back from the mutant.

Still nothing.

Gwen looked him over and realized she felt terribly sorry for him. She could see now what she couldn't see as a ten year old child. Where a child had seen a monster and a troublemaker, the new, slightly older Gwen saw a pitiful, misshapen thing. Evil? No. Troubled, disturbed and prone to super powered temper tantrums? Yes.

It looked so hard just to live, being like that. Being so different...from everything and everyone and...not having anyone to help. Gwen had family...and friends...people who could help her with anything if she ever needed help. This thing...this boy..had nothing. It was something she couldn't really understand as a ten year old child, but as a teenager who had had a difficult time just switching to a new middle school, She had never felt so alone or so judged on her appearance as she did when she had first walked down the halls of her new school for the first time. It was a small, silly comparison, but it worked. Even then, she came home to a loving family who supported her. It seemed to terrible to have absolutely nothing to come home to. How empty and lonely everything must be. Gwen reasoned that she wouldn't be the most balanced person if her life was anything like that. Still...he did seem slightly less insane...or at least less likely to be violent. She couldn't help but wonder how and why he had not moved against her...why he simply lay on the floor and had actually not said a word about revenge or how it was all Ben's fault he was what he was. The mutant seemed apathetic and almost melancholy. He had actually done as she said. In Gwen's world, that was unheard of. Something was definitely going on that she did not know about.

Kevin lay on the carpet and forced his eyes shut. He didn't want to look at the surreal landscape of Gwen's living room. He couldn't remember the last time he had been inside a normal house. This normal house was too much for his peculiar mental state to take. Ever since he had escaped the Null Void, he had been wondering what exactly he was going to do. For years, his singular goal had been to simply "get out". Any place was better than that interstellar hellhole. However, now that he was out, he realized that he had no idea what he was going to do now...and her house..the inside of her house made him sick. It was so normal...with photos on the wall, shoes by the door and all manner of perfectly normal...perfectly maddening artifacts surrounded him. It made him realize that, even though he had escaped, even though he was back on Earth away from things that snapped and bit and clawed, he still could not find a place to rest. Seeing his bizarre body next to the trappings of everyday living just reminded him of how he didn't belong anywhere. He clenched his eyes shut and tried to ignore the girl's numerous attempts to draw a response from her oversized house guest.

It wasn't fair. Why was it always him? Why did he always have to suffer? Everyone else had wonderful lives with wonderful families and wonderful homes to go back to. He, on the other hand, was the universe's whipping boy. Even now, his bones throbbed with pain. It was never easy. Nothing was easy for him. He had to scrape and scream and tear his way through everything. It was exhausting.

The whole experience was mentally and physically exhausting.

He wanted it to stop.

But he didn't want to die. Even he realized that he was a coward.

He'd been beaten within an inch of his life while in the Null Void...several times, actually, but the manic fear of what unknown darkness the next world might hold for him pulled him back from the brink. He hated surprises. The unknown made him afraid and being afraid made him angry, But that was hardly relevant now, as he lay on the carpet in Gwen Tennyson's living room.

Now Kevin had no idea what he was going to do.

So he lay there, waiting to see what his awkward mind managed to piece together from the little bits and pieces of his current situation.

The numb pain was there, still, It made his bones pulse and his joints ache. Kevin felt sick in the pit of his stomach.

Time was running out.

A savage, jagged lightning bolt flashed outside the window and the following thunder resonated in Kevin's bones. It was horrible moment of foreboding. The dull throb of pain increased and he suddenly regretted coming in.

Gwen picked up on it.

She saw that the mutant was far too tense to be unconscious, His muscles were taut and his eyes were clenched tightly shut. He seemed to also be...emitting, for the lack of a better word, tense and...fearful?..vibes? Energy? Something.

"You can cut it out. I know you are awake," Gwen stated.

He had to get out.

He had to get out of here, right now.

Kevin's eyes shot open with a fiery determination in them. He tried to get up, but his feet slipped on the wet floor and he came crashing down unceremoniously again. This time, he managed to fall on his broken arm and he shrieked in agony at it.

"What was that?" Gwen asked, her voice sharp with pending criticism.

"Don't," was all Kevin managed to gasp out.

"Don't what?" Gwen asked.

"Don't come near me! I don't want..."

Gwen scowled and cut him off.

"What? Help? Going to sit there and whine about it and how no one will help you? I just offered and you've already decided to crap out on me!" Gwen rolled her eyes.

She sat down next to him.

"Look, I'm sorry, but you are extremely frustrating to be around. I'll still help you, if you want," Gwen smiled and put a hand on his knee.

Her touch seemed to numb his pain. Kevin blinked stupidly as he tried to understand what was happening. He physically hurt less when she touched him. Carefully, he put hi oversized right hand around hers and nodded, unsure if words would stop the eerie connection between them.

Her hands were warm, they made the dull ache in his bones go away. However, when she removed them, the pain seemed to triple in an instant. He snarled and twisted in agony. He'd been deceived again. That touch, that terrible little touch had only sped things up. He'd been numbed only to have whatever she was doing accelerate his pending further mutation. His face burned, the red rage of insanity seared coherent thought. However, a pair of soft, warm little hands pressed against his cheeks. He heard her voice and the terrible pain was taken away.

No...he had to get her to let go...he had to pull away. He could hear her voice, drowned out by the throbbing pain in his head and the crashing thunder outside the house. He couldn't make out what she was asking him. He didn't care at the moment, he just wanted her to let go. He had to get her to let go.

But he couldn't.

He was helpless against that numb, comforting touch.

Knowing what hideous fate would befall him, he allowed her to maintain her contact, It felt comforting and gentle, it promised that everything would be alright. He was certain it was a lie. Things could never be alright,...but still, he allowed her contact to continue.

Outside, the storm raged on.


	4. A Clearing Sky

Storms

Part 4: A Clearing Sky

By Chibi Hime

AN: The final chapter of Storms! Ben 10 belongs to CNS/MOA, Fic belongs to me.

Next up for updateage, hopefully by next week is Wolves and Witches.

Kevin whimpered, feeling slightly comforted by the soft hands pressed against his leathery flesh.

_Look what she's done to you. She's sped up your doom. Look at you, cuddling up to the bringer of your own demise. Pathetic. _

The red mist of rage tickled Kevin's mind as he remembered just what Gwen had done to him. It made the anger within his massive frame bubble up with all kinds of half formed visions of violence.

Instead, he pulled back away from Gwen's petite hands and growled in his throat, baring his large, serrated teeth. The girl could only stare in confusion at the sudden reversal in his personality. Moments ago, he'd been nuzzling up to her hands or ignoring her. Now he was threatening her? That was chaotic, even for him. There had to be something else going on inside that malformed skull of his.

Kevin snarled at her. He stood up on his upper arms and tetramand feet. The spines amidst the orange fur on his lower arms bristled, even if one hung limp at his side. A few drips of green slime leaked out the corners of his mouth and around his bared, razor sharp teeth. His tail lashed back and forth in swift, angry swipes. Gwen was taken aback at just how much he looked like an animal in that state. He didn't seem to have any human qualities left in him in terms of appearances.

"Kevin..," she started, but he stopped her.

"What did you do to me? Why did you lie to me? What did YOU have to gain from it?"

It was a snarling, choked bark, ragged with mindless rage and pain.

Gwen looked up at him sadly.

"I didn't lie to you. I didn't do anything," she said calmly, hoping that if she maintained her calm demeanor, this fit of his would pass.

"LIAR!" he exploded.

Gwen felt something wet and slimy hit her cheek.

"You lied to me! You did something to me! I can feel it! You wretched little snake!"

He sounded more insanely angry and hurt than Gwen had ever seen or heard him, yet he did not break anything around him. He barely moved. Gwen noticed that his knees were shaking. God, it was pitiful.

"I swear I don't know what you are talking about. If you let me read your aura, I might be able to figure out what's hurting you," Gwen offered.

"NO! Don't touch me! Every time one of you Tennysons touches me, something happens! It's always something worse than before!" he growled, sounding shaken and paranoid.

"Let me see your aura!" Gwen said firmly.

"NO!" came the inhuman answer.

"Why?" Gwen asked, exasperated.

"I don't want you to see!" Kevin growled, tail lashing still.

"I'm not a mind reader. I'm not going to see your thoughts," Gwen said, attempting to sound reassuring.

"Not that. I...I..I mean," Kevin seemed to not know how to finish the sentence. He shifted his weight in his quadrupedal stance and looked about almost feverishly. Pain gnawed at his insides, working its way out from the cores of his bones, inching its way through every bit of his misshapen body. He shouldn't have let her touch him a second time. He had a few days then...but after...he'd be lucky if he had more than an hour before...before.

"It's going to happen again," he managed to rasp.

Gwen looked at him intently.

"What?" she asked.

The mutant seemed to paw the ground nervously.

"When you touched me...it..it made the pain start again,"

Gwen raised an eyebrow.

"What pain?" she asked, hopelessly confused.

He wouldn't meet her gaze.

"What pain?" she demanded in a determined voice.

Kevin shot her a look of impatient disgust. He thrust his twisted face within an inch of hers. Gwen felt the hot breathe on her face and saw the sharp teeth before her eyes. It was hard not to take a step back. That was what he wanted, though. He wanted her to be afraid, to be intimidating. Gwen chewed the inside of her lip. She would not let that happen. Her refusal to move seemed to be working at his mind. Kevin exhaled sharply and Gwen felt a wave of heated moisture wash over her features. His mismatched eyes scowled at her.

Without warning, Gwen reached up and seized two handfuls of his dark hair. The mutant's eyes went wide with realization as she quickly started her reading. Kevin froze as he felt her aura slowly going over his, looking into every crevice it found. It was unlike anything he had ever previously experienced. The sensation was oddly relaxing, almost like having an out of body massage. Her wave of energy seemed so soothing and soft that he was unable to resist it.

Gwen's energy picked up a series of aural knots in Kevin's makeup. It was as if there were obstructions to the energy flow that was central to his existence. Upon closer inspection, Gwen found that they emitted a familiar, icy feeling. Fear. He was afraid.

"What are you afraid of?" she asked casually.

Her question made Kevin snap back to his sense.

"Not you, that's for sure. I could tear you up if I wanted to," he growled, Gwen sensed his spines bristle again.

Gwen shook her head.

"I mean it. What has you so scared? I can read your aura, so there's no chance you can lie to me and have me believe you. So what is it? You said something earlier about not wanting me to see something. So, what was it?" she asked, still trying to maintain her soft tone.

Damn.

Damn she was good.

He had to say something. He had to. She could tell about his energy aura or whatever. Maybe she could help him. Maybe she was worth a lot more than her stupid cousin. He certainly didn't have anything to lose.

"I'm...I'm going to change again. I can feel it. It is just like before. When you touched me...something happened and it sped up,"

Gwen's eyes widened. She suddenly felt sick in her stomach.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that. I was only trying to help you," she said.

He believed her.

He wanted to believe her.

She had no real reason to lie to him.

He hoped not, anyway.

"It doesn't matter. It would have happened anyway. You just made it happen faster. Maybe this time it will kill me," he sounded utterly defeated.

"No! No, there has to be something we can do! There has to be!" Gwen insisted.

"Why do you care? Why do you care about someone like me? You don't owe me anything. I've tried to kill your family. I've tipped over an RV with you in it. I made a gun explode in your face. Nobody cares about me. No one can or should, for that matter. Besides, I can hardly 'live' like this as it is. I'm not even sure how I am alive," he said flatly, his guard lowering, quills easing down.

"Because you are a human being! I don't want you to die! That doesn't solve anything. If you die now, you'll die afraid," Gwen managed to say.

"Doesn't everyone?" Kevin asked.

"No!" Gwen insisted.

"They should," he rumbled.

Gwen frowned, but continued her aura reading.

She eased her aura over the knots of fear soaked energy, easing them out, freeing up the energy.

Kevin cringed.

Gwen stopped.

"Did that hurt?"

The mutant shook his head. Not convinced, Gwen eased on, trying to find out what was causing the energy to become knotted in the first place. A flash of defensive energy flickered in her mind. Puzzled, she "looked" again...then it made sense.

It was a defense mechanism. Fear caused him to "hold on" to energy in larger amounts and for longer periods of time than he should, than was healthy and safe. That made things happen. But even then, the energy could be released if stimulated properly. He'd started hurting, well, hurting more, as he did just fly into the side of her house, when she'd come outside and offered to help him.

Gwen's eyes widened in understanding. Things might not be as awful as he supposed.

"Kevin! Let it happen! Don't fight it anymore!" Gwen insisted.

The mutant's eyes widened in what appeared to be horror.

"Are you nuts?" he snarled.

"No! Trust me! Let it go! Don't be afraid!"

"That is easy for you to say," Kevin growled.

He inhaled sharply when he felt the soft hands his face, softly petting him.

"I know. It is easy for me to say. But I'm with you," Gwen whispered softly.

Kevin's mutant heart began to thunder against his massive chest so loud he could have sworn Gwen could hear it. His mismatched eyes darted around as she brushed his hair behind his ear. It was too much. It was too much kindness. Too much pain. He wanted it to be over. He hated all the waiting around. He hated the waiting and the exclusion. He hated being around all these normal things and pictures of normal people. He hated being next to **her** and being aware of how grossly different he was.

"Tell me everything will be alright!" Kevin whimpered, begging, breaking at last.

"I'm here. I'm with you. Everything will be alright," Gwen reassured him.

Without another word, she placed a feather soft kiss on the rough hide of his cheek. It made him gasp in surprise. It made him let go.

_She gives you hope. She brings your doom._

"I don't care," he mumbled to himself.

The hulking mutant leaned forward with his oversized right hand and as gently as he could manage, drew her in closer to him so that he could feel the softness of her shirt against him and he could smell the scent of shampoo in her hair.

_Everything will be alright._

It was her voice now. He believed it.

It was good that he did.

Otherwise the mind blowing pain that assaulted his senses would have driven him insane.

Even clinging to Gwen as if she were a comforting doll didn't make it stop. Kevin snarled as he felt his body turn on itself. It felt exactly like it did years ago, except in reverse. Where previously, his bones had felt as though they were tearing out of his very flesh (which they actually were, in some cases), now it felt as though everything was pressing inward and folding in on itself. It was as if he was trapped in a vise and something was squeezing him together. It felt as though parts of him were just folding backwards on themselves of their own accord. Bones audibly snapped and crunched, in some cases grinding painfully into themselves. All the while things were shoving themselves further down, compacting, thinning.

There wasn't a bone or organ in his body that wasn't experiencing a massive overhaul of some kind. Pulling down, inward, folding. Even his skull felt as though it were about to crush his brain. He squeezed his eyes shut and clung to Gwen, sensing his grip becoming uneven. He could feel his whole body getting weaker.

What was happening now? Was his body finally turning on itself? Finally realizing what a genetic impossibility it actually was?

_Everything will be alright._

She said it would.

He wanted to believe her.

The mounting, crushing pain made certain parts of him feel numb, as if they weren't there at all. He struggled to open his eyes, but even when he opened them, all he saw was blackness.

With a final heave and sickening crunch, he fell into dark, soothing unconsciousness.

Gwen could hardly believe her eyes.

The unconscious body that fell against her was lighter, smoother and...paler.

She had been right. Her aura must have triggered something in his system to begin releasing all that awful pent up energy...but only positive energy could even make it move a little...so that would have to mean he...he had positive feelings toward her and her aura complimented those feelings. It meant he didn't hate her...that he...might...possibly...

Gwen blushed, suddenly keenly aware that a shirtless teenage, very human, boy was now pressed against her shoulders and chest. Carefully, she eased him to the floor and took a step back.

There he was. There was their enemy on the floor of her living room looking very human. He looked so small now...so feeble. He was no longer the scrawny street child she had seen in New York, but compared to his mutated form, he just looked so...small. Her mind couldn't find a better word at the moment. It was too busy trying to absorb what had just happened. She noticed her charge was shivering and she quickly covered him with one of the dry beach towels she had.

Taking a moment to look him over, she realized how minimal his injuries were now. Granted, he still had a massive bruise on his chest and back from where he had flown into her house, but his two remaining arms were unbroken, she could see him flexing his fingers. He still had a few cuts from the glass and wood, but those were quickly and easily cleaned and bandaged.

"Kevin?" she whispered softly.

There was no reply, but there was the steady sound of deep breathing coming from under the towel.

Gwen heard the thunder rumble outside, much less ominous than before, now it was almost soothing. The savage drumming of the rain and hail had slowed to a rhythmic patter that soon eased her off to sleep on her couch.

When she awoke, the sun was shining through the windows, the last few storm clouds were drifting away. Birds were beginning to chirp outside.

Easing her way up, she immediately looked down to see that Kevin was nowhere to be seen, though he had actually folded the towel she had covered him with. Gwen sat up when she heard water running in the downstairs bathroom. She eased herself up and tiptoed down the hall. The door to the bathroom had been left open. She noticed Kevin had helped himself to a pair of Ken's old pants that had been in the Goodwill box in the hall, but since Ken had outgrown them last year, Gwen saw no point in bringing that up. The young man was staring in the mirror and poking his cheekbone, as if it might somehow reshape again.

"See. I said everything would be alright," Gwen stated and Kevin nearly leapt out of his skin.

"Y-you..." was all he managed to say.

Gwen raised an eyebrow.

"Me?"

"What did you do?" he asked, voice suddenly dark and dangerous.

Gwen paled slightly at the ease he could go from awkward teenager to genuinely frightening.

"I didn't do anything much, really. You did most of it," Gwen said, giggling slightly.

That was a mistake.

"Don't patronize me!" He said sharply.

"I'm not! I'm just saying all I did was convince you to...let go off all that energy you had been holding onto. But you did it, didn't you? I just helped you do it," she said nodding.

Kevin looked as though he were unsure how to process this.

"So...what do you want?" he asked.

Gwen looked at him.

"Come again?" she inquired.

"What do you want? No one does something for nothing,"

"I didn't do it for nothing. I got self fulfillment knowing I did the right thing, Gwen said.

Kevin's face was flat.

To him it didn't matter if she helped him. It didn't matter if he entertained ridiculous notions of hope with her...it didn't matter that she was right. She had to want something. That's how things work. That's how it was. That's how it always was. He owed her. He was indebted to her...to her of all people!

"What do you want?" he asked again, with a more determined tone.

"I don't want anything. Well...you could maybe not throw a fit here in my house after you crashed through the window," Gwen raised an eyebrow again.

Kevin seemed to have forgotten how he had actually arrived in her care. He blinked several times and then looked down at the large bruise that covered his upper chest. He gently poked at it and winced. Gwen frowned.

"Here, let me get you some aspirin or something," she said, again sounding helpful and gentle as she had the night before.

When she left the room, the young man paused.

It wasn't nothing to him.

He couldn't say it...he didn't know how to.

The words were not there.

But he felt it.

He had been delivered here by fate, to the one person who he might not want to rip limb from limb. The only person who only physically moved against him in self defense. He looked out the window and saw rays of light peeking through the thinning clouds.

The storm was over in more ways than one.

The mindless hate that had festered and sat in the pit of his stomach and consumed his brain was nowhere to be found. Oh, he still didn't feel like being very friendly, but he didn't feel like fighting anymore. For the first time in his life, he was tired of it. It wasn't like he could really do anything to anyone as he was anyway.

Instinctively, he reached for the bathroom outlet, but froze.

No, he didn't want to do that either. Not yet...not so soon.

Gwen came back with a glass of milk...milk, not water, he noticed, and a few white pills.

"Peace offering?" she asked hopefully.

He couldn't help it. A perfectly human smile broke out across his features.

"Sure, whatever," he said nonchalantly.

She smiled and looked at him several long seconds.

He looked back, enjoying a few calm moments.

He couldn't stay here long. This wasn't his world...not yet. Someday he would make it up to her. Someday when she needed him, he'd pay her back. He wanted to. He needed to. He would.

Two years later, he did.

He still is.


End file.
